


Unwanted Perks of the Job

by Cards_Slash



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Drugged Sex, Dubious Consent, M/M, due to drugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-15
Updated: 2014-04-15
Packaged: 2018-01-19 13:16:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1471207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cards_Slash/pseuds/Cards_Slash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cesare manages to capture Ezio and gives him to Leonardo as a gift.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unwanted Perks of the Job

**Author's Note:**

> from this prompt:
> 
>  
> 
> Contrary to what most people think, I, Cesare Borgia, care about my minions staff and their welfare. And I keep getting worried about my engineer. He makes the most wonderful toys for me (when those pesky assassins aren't destroying them before I get to play), but he really seems fidgety. He needs to get laid. I offered, of course, but he doesn't seem interested. Perhaps he likes slightly older men...
> 
> What's this? Oh, grand news. My guards have managed to capture that annoying leader of the Assassins. Weren't that one friends with my engineer? Perhaps I can manage two birds with one stone. Friends fuck each other, don't they? I certainly fuck most of mine. And my engineer and this assassino would be quite adorable. My engineer has some odd ideas, though, so I probably have to "convince" him. Should be simple enough to manage.
> 
> Why, hello, Leonardo. Yes, I do believe someone has drugged your food. Not to worry, it's just a simple aphrodisac. And look behind me! A bed! With a naked assassin tied to it! Look how he's glistening with oil and squirming with desire. Yes, I drugged him too. Four times what I gave you. Should keep him well in the mood, wink wink nudge nudge. If you don't want him, don't worry, I'll just leave him with the guards so they can have their fun. No need to thank me; now I'll just leave you two alone and lock the door behind me.

It was panic that made Leonardo blurt out, 'you can leave him' with a possessive sort of anger that did nothing to lower the raging boil of blood just below his skin. He was _on fire _and Cesare just smiled at him.__

__\--_ _

__Ezio was a useless, writhing mess of limbs with his arms tied behind his back. He was nothing but sweat over skin and the salt-scent of arousal and disappointing orgasms. When the door closed there was nothing but the slightest of acknowledgements from him that anything-had happened at all. His back arched off the bed and he pushed himself up onto his knees--stared across the room to where Leonardo stood by the work table._ _

__"We are sure to die," Leonardo said. He spoke the words very quietly--thought of Cesare's smile when he had the guards drag in his gift, thought of the darkness of his smirk when he offered Ezio's body carelessly to him. Leonardo picked up the knife off the table and across the room. "I am sorry, my friend."_ _

__Ezio licked his lips as he watched him. His face and neck were flushed nearly as dark as the furious red of his cock standing up against his stomach. His arms were tight from the pointless struggle against the ropes and his stomach and thighs were twitching from the muscles that loosened and tightened as he fruitlessly rocked against the very air around them. But his eyes were narrowed as he watched Leonardo approach him._ _

__"To cut the ropes," Leonardo said. He sawed through them while Ezio did his best to stay still. He didn't expect Ezio to grab him, didn't expect him to shove him down on the bed and crawl over his body, and Leonardo had to swallow back the squawk of surprise when the knife was tore out of his hand. "Ezio," Leonardo said._ _

__Ezio cut his clothes off with ruthless efficiency. Then he tossed the knife behind him and hauled Leonardo farther up onto the bed and pulled his thighs open to settle between them. His skin was hot-as-fire and the weight of his body-was-suffocating. Leonardo was gasping-for-breath, catching at Ezio's wrists and neck. He meant to push him away, to use reason to overcome the disastrous effects of the drugs but he pulled Ezio _down_ instead. Their mouths were a dissonant clash; they slid together without grace but with full force. "How do I fuck you?" Ezio asked. He was around rocking against him, fucking the hard length of his dick against Leonardo's body. The question may-or-may not have been meant for him, perhaps not from the way Ezio rolled him onto his stomach and pulled his hips up and back. _ _

__"Oil," Leonardo gasped._ _

__Ezio's growl was like a physical force that moved through Leonardo. He rubbed his face against the rumpled blankets and tried-to-think around the urgent burn in his gut. Every instinct in his body was screaming for more-now-please but the last logical part of his brain was insistent. Ezio's face was against his shoulder, the blunt edges of his teeth digging into skin as he lay against him and rut his dick against Leonardo's ass with all the mindless intensity of an animal._ _

__Leonardo spit into his hand and reached down between his already-slick-sweaty thighs to rub it around before he reached between his legs to pull Ezio dick-first into place. He pressed his thighs together as tight as he could and shuddered at the belly-deep groan Ezio let out before he started fucking into the close space between Leonardo’s thighs. The force of his thrusts knocked him against the bed again-and-again, trapping his own hard dick against the roughness of the blankets._ _

__Ezio's hands were on his lower back holding him in place as he bit out curses-and-prayers before he went suddenly still with a moan and collapsed against him. "Where is the oil?" Ezio asked the back of his neck._ _

__"We must work on your manners," Leonardo said. He knocked him off his back and straddled Ezio's ribs. He tightened his fist on his own still-hard dick, jerking it up and down too-fast-too-hard until he was leaning forward with one hand on the bed and the tip of his dick just inches from Ezio's beautifully-flushed face. He came on him with a groan and a blind-white-moment of disbelief._ _

__"I am not the only one that needs a lesson in manners," Ezio said. He was frowning as he wiped at the come that was caught in the hair on his face and across his cheek and the one silvery-white smudge of it on his lips. The disgust on his face was almost-enough to make Leonardo grab at the fleeting edges of his common sense. (They were both drugged, this was _wrong._ )_ _

__But Ezio pressed his fingers into Leonardo's open mouth, rubbed the saltiness of his own sweat and Leonardo's come on his tongue. Leonardo sucked on them, scrapped the rough pads of his fingers with his teeth and stared right into Ezio's eyes with the sort of fearlessness he hadn't felt before._ _

__"Fuck," Ezio mumbled._ _

__Leonardo reached up to his face and used his thumb to push the bit of come stuck on his lip down into his mouth, rubbed it across his teeth and tongue._ _

__\--_ _

__Leonardo had thought-about-it because thinking-was-safe in the spare room inside of his head. He'd imagined the way Ezio would look sprawled out under him, gasping for breath and begging for the particular pleasure that was Leonardo's thick cock moving inside of him. But thoughts-were-thoughts-weren't actions and Leonardo had never had any real hope of it happening._ _

__But now, when his blood was on fire and Ezio was useless underneath him, gagging on his own breath as Leonardo sucked his blood-hot dick. He tasted like one-too-many orgasms as he bucked up into Leonardo's mouth and the sound of his voice rising higher-and-higher in exaltation of Leonardo's skills made everything but his most basic desires drop out of the bottom of his skull. Leonardo had fetched a small pot of oil he kept for (various reasons) he fumbled for it and slicked his fingers._ _

__"Oh," Ezio said when Leonardo pushed a finger into him. Both of his hands were threaded through the sweaty-disaster of Leonardo's hair, pushing him down until he was gagging on dick. Ezio was mumbling so low it was barely a sound until he went silent--back arched, body taut and shivering. Leonardo swallowed around him reflexively and shook the hands off his head to pull back to breath. It was too-much-to-wait so he pulled his finger free and slicked his dick before pushing into Ezio's relaxing-body._ _

__Ezio grunted, hooked one of his floppy-legs around him and let the other fall open uselessly. His eyes were half-closed and his mouth was all-open with bright-red lips and a pink tongue as his head tipped back-and-to-the-side when Leonardo pushed in until they were flush-together. "Is this what you wanted?"_ _

__If he'd been a wiser-man, possessed of greater-self-control he would have denied it. There was a raging fire of drugs in his system to blame but the want that made his head spin hadn't faded any-at-all since the very first time Ezio-fucking-Auditore showed up at his workshop dressed like an Assassin with a fresh wound straight through his heart. Leonardo licked his lips, leaned forward enough to fist his hands in the blankets and stared back at Ezio's face as he started fucking-into-him. The bed squealed abuse and Ezio's breath came in short punches lapped over with wet-moans and Leonardo felt light-headed from holding his breath in between deep inhales._ _

__"Yes," Ezio gasped hoarsely, "like that." His hand was down between their bodies, gripping at his still-hard dick with ruthless intent. He was shaking in time with the motions of his hand, quivering all around Leonardo as his eyes closed._ _

__Leonardo came first, and Ezio growled in frustration when he stilled and rolled them over so Leonardo was under him. It was Ezio's rough fingers that held his dick so he could sink down onto him. It was Ezio's face caught between immense pleasure-and-unimaginable-pain as he started riding him hard-and-fast. His shoulders were slumped forward and his arms were shaking as his body started twitching. Leonardo started petting him--all across his chest and stomach, along his arms and up to his neck where his pulse was rapid-and-rabid. The motion of Ezio's body was confused because he was intent on riding Leonardo's dick but he was fucking down against his stomach._ _

__When he came-at-last, he barely caught himself on his elbows before he crushed Leonardo._ _

__\--_ _

__They were idle for a moment. Ezio was laying on his stomach across the head of the bed and Leonardo was lying on his side looking at him. There was a hollowed-out blackness underneath his eyes--who knew how long it had been since he slept--but there was still a red flush to his skin. Even now, just a matter of minutes (less than twenty surely), Ezio was grinding against the bed with a dirty frown on his face._ _

__"Is someone going to come after you?" Leonardo asked._ _

__It was such a stupid question to ask. Ezio grabbed him by the arm to pull him across the bed, laid him flat across the blankets and climbed back over him. Leonardo tugged him forward to kiss him--thought if he never had another chance he'd want to be sure to have done it. Ezio's arms slid under his back and he dropped his body low against his, rocked his hips forward so his dick was rubbing across the mess of Leonardo's skin. The way he kissed was nothing-at-all like the uncontrollable lust of his body. He was slow-and-certain and thorough when he kissed. The tips of his fingers were rubbing against the nape of Leonardo's neck and he rumbled a pleased sound that vibrated through both their mouths._ _

__It was Leonardo that found the oil and reached between their bodies to spread it over Ezio's throbbing dick. He pulled his weary legs up and out of the way with a clear invitation. Ezio stared down his body at where Leonardo was guiding him into place. It only took the barest of touches before Ezio took over, wrapping his hands around Leonardo's thighs and tugging him down as he pressed forward and pushed _in_. There was only just-enough of the drug left in his tired body to ease the reactive flinching tightness of objection then Ezio was _inside_ of him. _ _

__"Oh," Ezio said. He tightened his grip and took only the briefest of pauses before he started thrusting into him. The whole of his body was tense with the effort of fucking into Leonardo but the strength of his muscles was dulled by drugs and sleeplessness. (Good thing, he supposed, as he was shoved across the bed and then dragged back into place.) The ruthlessness push of his hips was bridging the gap between pleasure-into-pain and Leonardo arched and wriggled in an attempt to tip his hips just-right._ _

__"Ezio," he said in desperation. His fingernails were leaking pink streaks over flushed-skin, dragging fresh marks by old scars. The whole of his body was starting to feel like a raw bruise and there was a rage of confusion between his ears where his body was screaming in some oversensitive outrage and his brain was calmly accepting of the attention. "Ezio."_ _

__Oh-and-Ezio stuttered to a stop with a twist of pained concentration on his face. He dropped forward so his hands were against the bed again. He shifted on his knees as his hips rocked forward and he sank in as deeply as he could manage--just short little rolling thrusts now, so subtle and slight that Ezio might not even have known he was doing them. His face was a wretched mask of need, his hand on Leonardo's chest slipped up to his neck and held on there. His forehead was pressed against his collarbone and Leonardo stroked his back as he started to shake again._ _

__"If I must die here, I would be happy to die with you," Leonardo mumbled. He rubbed his fingers through Ezio's sweat-soaked hair, tugged at it to pull him up and kiss him. He wrapped one leg around him and dropped a hand down to pull at his hip. "Move with me." He tightened his fingers to pull Ezio on and loosened them to show when-and-how far he should pull out. They fell into a rhythm--quick but shallow--and Ezio kissed him with desperate violence. When he came (again, how unimaginable), he moaned so-very-sweetly and pressed another kiss at the corner of his mouth before he collapsed to the side. Leonardo followed him, kept his arms around him, kissed his tired face and stroked his filthy hair._ _

__"They must be coming for you," Leonardo said._ _

__Ezio tightened an arm around Leonardo and pulled him close. He was slipping into an uneasy sleep now, and Leonardo stroked his arm while he watched the door for their savior-or-executioner._ _

__\--_ _

__Leonardo kept a vigil over Ezio's exhausted body. The night passed in an eternity of minutes, each of them longer than the last. No matter how very much he tried to stay awake he found himself nodding to sleep in the muggy-sticky space next to Ezio's body. He was woke again by a pained moan or a groping hand feeling for his body. The first few times he was able to put Ezio back to sleep with a mere hand job and sloppy kisses._ _

__Ezio woke up more lucid after almost an hour long nap and staggered out of bed. He knocked the things off the table across the room until he found a pitcher of water and drank it all in greedy-long gulps. The water spilled down his chest and ran in thin little rivulets all the way to the floor. When he had finished he tossed the empty vessel onto the floor and came back to the bed. The heavy exhaustion on his face was no less but his eyes, at least, were more alert. His hands had a stronger grip when he pulled Leonardo to the edge of the bed by the thigh._ _

__Leonardo let himself be pulled and arched his back when the blankets got caught under his body. He wiggled himself to the very edge and spread his legs so that Ezio could fit between them. The pot of oil was a slick across the bed but there was enough left to use one last time. "Ezio," he said in a worried burst._ _

__Ezio had shoved his leg up toward his chest and was staring down at his embarrassingly bare hole with a crease between his eyebrows. For a moment he looked caught between intrigue and disgust just before he pressed his fingers into Leonardo's body again. Two slid in roughly with not nearly enough slickness to ease the way._ _

__"Ezio," Leonardo said again. He reached down to grab at his arm and put one hand against his still-heated skin. There was a flush on his own skin that made his face-hot and his chest pink. "Will they come to rescue you?"_ _

__Ezio looked up at his face, away from the way his body must have been stretched around his fingers. "If they are able. Where is the oil?" But he was reaching across the bed to catch the little pot. His fingers pulled out of Leonardo's body with a dry drag. Ezio was efficient about slicking himself up and smeared a bit of the oil across Leonardo's hole. Then he was shuffling forward the spare distance between them and clutching at his thigh as he thrust forward into Leonardo._ _

__"Ah," Leonardo said. His fingertips were pushing back against Ezio's body and the suddenness of his entry. Leonardo wasn’t the master of his own body in the same way that Ezio was--he could not ignore pain or force himself to relax at will. His life had never depended on such things so he tipped his head back and bit at his own lips and prepared himself to be taken roughly._ _

__"I should be offended you think so little of me," Ezio said. His hand was on Leonardo's chest over the quick-beat of his heart. The other hand was still curled around his thigh. "One day, if we do this again, I will show the sort of lover I really am."_ _

__The hand on his chest was oddly gentle, stroking at his skin from collarbone to hip before gripping his mostly limp dick and stroking it. Leonardo groaned because he'd-thought-about-this very moment so very often that he couldn't deny he wanted Ezio however he could have him. "Is it so different?" he asked. His body settled back in place against the blankets and he lifted his own hand to trace the lines of Ezio's perfect-fucking-body._ _

__"You wound me, friend," Ezio said. He started moving in him, slower now than he had before but with no less strength behind his thrusts. "I am very thorough. I take great pride in my skills."_ _

__"Do you have many skills?" Leonardo asked. He gripped his own dick when Ezio's hand wandered away and started pulling it faster than the pace Ezio had set. He closed his eyes against the reality of Ezio's tired face and sweaty body over him and imagined how he'd look when it was something he-wanted-to-do._ _

__"Yes," Ezio said. Then he shifted how he was standing. "I have--I just need--"_ _

__"It's okay," Leonardo said. Ezio pulled at him and started fucking into harder, lost his tenuous hold on his own self control and fucked into Leonardo with mindless abandon. It was jarring-and-quick and left him feeling like a thing being used but the shock-of-pleasure that racked through his body was no less welcome. He came messily on his own hand before Ezio finished inside of his body._ _

__They lay in a heap of messy limbs. Ezio crawled up to sleep against his side again. He slept easier this time, stayed asleep for longer without having to be sated again. Leonardo extracted himself to find clothes for himself and anything-at-all that would fit Ezio in the event of a rescue._ _

__It was nearly-dawn when Ezio woke again (after several hours rest) and sat up on the bed so suddenly it nearly made Leonardo shout in surprise. He shoved himself off the bed and threw all of the blankets aside in a manner that sent the pot sailing through the air and the short knife Leonardo had brought to cut away the ropes falling to the floor. Ezio retrieved it and set it on the bed before turning to look at him. "Do I have clothes?" He seemed confused at finding Leonardo dressed._ _

__"I'm not certain they'll fit." All he had managed to find in his searching was a pair of drawers hardly fit to be wore during a rescue. Ezio stared at them like he didn't even understand the purpose of the garment and then snatched them out of Leonardo's hand._ _

__"It will have to do," he said. Once he had them on he dragged Leonardo into a corner he clearly felt he could defend and pushed him against the wall behind him._ _

__"Is there someone coming?" Leonardo asked._ _

__Ezio did not answer him but the rising noise from the hall was answer enough. The door opened to admit several guards--some covered in blood and some falling to the floor instantly--with a knot of assassin's at their backs._ _

__The rescue was a whirlwind of blood-and-cries of sudden pain followed by a quick silence. The assassins that had come for them dispatched the guards with ease and turned their attention to the state of their Mentor and Leonardo with confused and aghast stares. Nobody said a word--perhaps due to the obvious thunder of more guards approaching the door and perhaps due to the lethal glare on Ezio's face._ _

__"He is going with us," Ezio said. There was no question in his voice about insubordination and definitely no room for Leonardo to protest. (He wasn't certain the would have protested even if he'd been given the opportunity but his pride demanded that he should have had the opportunity nonetheless.)_ _

__The assassins looked out through the open door with some concern. One said, "that will make our escape more difficult."_ _

__Ezio's expression changed to a condescending disbelief but he kept all comments about incompetence to himself. His mostly-naked body was an obvious target that the assassins closed rank around. The trip out through the front door was slow and often halted by the necessary but brutal execution of guards._ _

__\--_ _

__When they reached the hideout (at last), Ezio disappeared and Leonardo was left with the many unknown assassins that had rescued him. They were wounded and filthy and tired. They broke into clusters and tended to each other while they compared their victories and their methods._ _

__Leonardo found a quiet corner to sit in and did his best not to shift uncomfortably on the hard wooden seat. He listened to the noise of so many bodies and the reassuring sound of weapons being tended to._ _

__Sometime later, a hand on his shoulder woke him and he jerked so suddenly he nearly tipped over backward. It was only the sure grip on his arm that kept him from landing flat on his back on the ground. He grabbed the wrist by his shoulder and stared up at Ezio's slow-smiling face._ _

__"Come," Ezio said, "there are more comfortable places to rest." He was dressed again--not in full robes but in clothes that were made to fit him at very least._ _

__"I would be grateful," Leonardo managed. He followed after Ezio in a daze and collapsed into the bed that was offered to him without bothering to remove even his outermost layer of clothing._ _

__\--_ _

__By the time he woke in the morning, Ezio was gone to attend to business. In his absence Leonardo was treated as a prisoner (more or less). He was at least afforded the privileges of a well-liked prisoner. Nobody was overtly rude to him and there was no mistreatment of his person. Nonetheless he was not allowed free roam of the hideout and he was most definitely not allowed near any of the exits._ _

__It was days before Ezio came back bleeding and triumphant. Leonardo heard of his return but he did not see him until many hours later when the man showed up in his rooms without his outer robes or weapons. His right arm was a wash of dried and sticky blood with fresh-red blood oozing out of a gash across his bicep. There were many bruises on what little of his chest was visible through the loose laces of his shirt._ _

__"Ah, I am allowed a visitor now?"_ _

__Ezio made a face at him that was not complimentary. "I could not allow you to leave and I am aware of how stubborn you are. You would have walked out into the streets and been captured and returned to Cesare in a matter of minutes."_ _

__"That is hardly an excuse. Even when I was obliged to be the guest of the Borgia I was still allowed autonomy. I haven't even been allowed to fetch my own food or see more of this wretched place than two rooms and the hall that connects them."_ _

__Ezio threw his arms up over his head. "Go then," he said, "but I will not risk the lives of my Brotherhood over one stubborn man."_ _

__"Oh, have you ordered them not to come to your aid again?" Leonardo snapped. Days in isolation, left in ignorance, had filled his head with a hundred-thousand possibilities and not a single one of them had afforded him even a moment’s peace. Ezio almost certainly hated him or at very least was disgusted by him and the many things they had done._ _

__"Were I you, I would be more grateful to the men that saved your life," Ezio said. He was close enough now that the smell of his blood was too heavy to ignore. There were flecks of blood on his face and a streak of something clumping his hair together where it had fallen out of the tie at the nape of his neck._ _

__"I am grateful to them. It is you that I am angry with!" Leonardo shouted._ _

__Ezio hit him, slapped him across the face the other man might have hit a woman that was disrespecting him. Before the white-pain of it full registered in Leonardo's skin, Ezio's face bleached with mortification and he raised both of his hands to grip at Leonardo's shoulders. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean--I don't know why--"_ _

__But Leonardo shoved him away and slapped him back. He may not have been a great assassin mentor but he had spent the whole of his life working with his hands. He was not the weakling that Ezio might have mistook him for and his hand print blushed up red and raised across Ezio's face._ _

__Ezio stared at the ground rather than look at him, let his arms hang at his sides rather than defend himself. They stood like: Leonardo seething in rage and hurt and Ezio accepting his punishment like a sullen child. His eyes closed and he drew in a breath before he turned back to look at Leonardo. Ezio's shoulders squared up and he straightened to his full height. Everything but the most superficial respect was gone from his face. "I apologize for the conditions of your stay. As soon as it is safe for you to go, you will be allowed to leave. If these terms aren't to your liking I will do my best to have you moved somewhere you are more comfortable." Then he said, "good night Leonardo." He left before Leonardo could even find his breath to make a sound._ _

__\--_ _

__The assassins were loyal first-and-foremost to their Mentor. They closed around him with the rigid silence and offered not even a hint of his well-being or whereabouts to Leonardo when he inquired. They brought him food and escorted him whenever he left the few rooms he was allowed in unsupervised. Every morning and every evening they inquired if he'd prefer alternative lodging and every day he wearily told them he was content._ _

__It went on for the better of two weeks before too many sleepless nights drove Leonardo to the edge of his infinite patience. He rose from his bed when breakfast came, dressed in the same clothes he had worn the day before and called for an escort to take him out to the main halls. The assassins had been careful and silent about the layout of their hideout but Leonardo was smarter-by-far the majority of them. Their silence had many different levels and it had only taken a matter of days to discover what direction Ezio's rooms were._ _

__So Leonardo turned his body to face where Ezio was hiding. He asked if the Mentor was in and the silence he received was too perfect to be anything but an affirmation. "Ezio Auditore!" he shouted, "Come now." He waited a moment (counted in his head to an approximation of one minute). His escort was looking at him with a flatly disinterested stare but there were others at the edge of the room that were watching with some quiet intrigue. "Surely," Leonardo shouted, "there have been many questions about what unimaginable horror we were rescued from!" There must have been rumors passed around these narrow halls. "I will be obliged to answer them if you cannot show your face."_ _

__Another moment was met with nothing. Leonardo looked at the escort at his side that looked as if he were torn between maintaining his professional disinterest and proactively silencing Leonardo. There could be no mistaking the most prevalent theory of what had happened in Leonardo's muggy room prior to their rescue._ _

__Leonardo drew in another breath. "I have taken the liberty of illustrating the events!"_ _

__The curse that came down the hallway was unmistakably Ezio's voice. His footsteps were heavy stomps that pulled the assassins standing around Leonardo to attention. When Ezio came through the doors he was furious and red (embarrassed or mad). "I am here," he snapped at Leonardo. Then he waved his hand at the room and every assassin made a hasty exit. "How have you been offended now? Was the food too warm? Was the bed too comfortable? What are your demands?”_ _

__“My only demand is that you have the decency to admit you hate me rather than hiding behind righteous intentions and a veritable army of stooges that obey your every order.” Leonardo had expected one of two things: vehement (albeit dishonest) denial or relieved agreement that he was indeed hated._ _

__In actuality, Ezio just shook his head and turned a whole circle before coming back to him with another curse. “You believe I hate you?” he repeated. “You think, perhaps, I blame you for what happened? That my masculine pride had been sullied and I am willing to throw away the many years of our friendship over this.”_ _

__“You wouldn’t be the first,” Leonardo said._ _

__Ezio threw his hands up and made an aggravated noise to the ceiling._ _

__“What else could I possibly believe? You have treated me with absolute civility while remaining as far away from me as you are physically able to. Couple your complete avoidance with what is commonly known of your sexual preferences and what other conclusion could I possibly draw? Perhaps, if I had been stronger I might have resisted the drug and the urges it gave me—maybe if I had you wouldn’t be disgusted with me now.”_ _

__“And in your expansive imagination, how would it have gone if you ‘resisted the urges’? Do you imagine that I would have had the same restraint? Or do you also play the martyr in this alternative version of events that you’ve created? Would you have lay there passively and let me do what I pleased with your body? Would you have suffered in saintly silence secure in the knowledge that you were only doing what was necessary to save my life?” Every-word was like a slap, as if Ezio had been trained how to perfectly craft every syllable to a deadly point._ _

__“I would have if I thought you’d forgive me afterward,” Leonardo said._ _

__Ezio laughed at that and it was a cruel and awful sound. “How long have you wanted to use me like you did that night? How many times have you lay in your bed and dreamed of what my body would feel like when you took it? You were so eager and so pleased to have it.”_ _

__“Is that what this is about?” It was the imagined offenses that drove Leonardo into sleeplessness, trying to wade through the many reasons that Ezio might have hated him and weighing them against what he knew of the man. Everything came to a sharp point when he had some clue as to the cause of his confinement. “You must have guessed long before that night. You were hardly surprised to find yourself spread out beneath me. I enjoyed sating myself with your body, I enjoyed the way you felt around me. And I enjoyed how you felt inside of me and unlike you, I am not ashamed of these things or of wanting them.”_ _

__“I am not ashamed!” Ezio shouted._ _

__“Your skin must crawl every time you think about that night, about how eagerly you allowed me to take you and how many times you took pleasure in me. I have seen your face and felt your body tremble against mine. How you must hate that I do.” Leonardo-had-never taken any real joy in hurting anyone. It was barbaric and basic and the ultimate downfall of man. But he watched Ezio’s face with a dark twist of pride in his chest at the hurt he could see there._ _

__“My skin crawls when I think of how quickly you agreed to die for me—for nothing more than a phantom of a chance that we could be saved. I can’t sleep when I think of it, of Cesare’s face in triumph when you agreed to accept his ‘gift’. You assured your death in that moment—if not immediate than eventual. He would have used the knowledge of your deviancy against you to make you his slave until he tired of you. That is what I’m ashamed of—that you were so willing to die for me when I have done so little to deserve such loyalty.”_ _

__And Leonardo couldn’t think of a single word to say to that. It was nothing-at-all like the imagined things that had filled his head in the past weeks. He couldn’t have guessed at Ezio’s guilt, could not have imagined he would have doubted his own worth or the love and friendship that Leonardo felt for him. “That does not make sense.”_ _

__“It makes as much sense as your ridiculous theory.” Ezio was standing apart from him now, tall and proud and still guarding himself from further hurt. “I suppose after the things I did to you in that room I should have expected you would think so lowly of me.”_ _

__“No,” Leonardo said._ _

__“I meant to apologize to you when I came to see you the other night but—that did not work as expected. I had convinced myself I could stand your anger or your hurt or whatever you might have for me but I couldn’t. I am sorry, Leonardo and I am in your debt.” He was so very humble at the words, and so sincere._ _

__“You are truly stupid,” Leonardo said. He stepped forward, crowded up into Ezio’s space and watched his face as he flailed backward a step only to have Leonardo follow him until they were trapped against the wall. “You would have done the very same if our situations were reversed. You have done the same—countless times. There is no debt.”_ _

__Ezio kissed him and Leonardo couldn’t have denied him if his very life depended on it. The whole of his body felt flayed and raw save for where Ezio’s hands were holding his face. Leonardo put his hands on Ezio’s hips, felt the strength of his body under his hands. They kissed like foolish young men with sloppy passion and a complete disregard for who-might-see. Ezio pulled his clothes until he could get his hands against Leonardo’s bare skin and held him fast against his body as he ground his growing arousal against him._ _

__“Your room?” Leonardo said._ _

__“Yours,” Ezio said. He pulled his hands free of Leonardo’s clothes and caught his hand to drag him down the hall toward his room._ _


End file.
